Ford 300 runs rough
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Ford 300 runs rough
I have a 1983 Ford Bronco with a 4.9l 300 i6, I just bought the truck a couple weeks ago from the junkyard, so it didn't have a carb or distributor, and the previous owner already eliminated most of the emissions including the egr valve. It supposedly ran when parked, (the guy at the junk yard put an engine in it 3 years ago, for the previous owner who never paid him so he just kept the Bronco, in hopes that some knuckle head like me would buy it.) So far I've added an hei distributor, a new carb, new plugs and wires, and an air filter. So here's the problem; when I start the engine it runs rough and misses, it also has no power, these symptoms occur throughout any rpm. last night I got it running fairly decent, so I drove it around the property, not for much more than a minute, pulled back into the driveway, stepped on the clutch and it died, so I coasted to a stop and it wouldn't start back up. This morning I tried to start it and it wouldn't even try to start. So I guess my question is, why does my Ford run like a Chevy? Thanks in advance for any help. (I also posted this on the bronco section of the forum.)
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How/where did you wire the HEI into? Those distributors like a lot of juice, and require a large wire to them and it needs to come from the battery, probably through a relay controlled by the key. My guess is that whatever you wired into is now toast and you don't have power to the ignition. Have you checked?
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Well, if you don't already have problems with that wiring you are going to. The power to the coil should have a resistor in it, and it is supposed to cause a voltage drop to the coil to keep it from burning up. You should see something like 7 volts there while the engine is running. But, the HEI is not going to like that low of voltage. There's a wiring schematic on my web site here (Start & Ignition - Gary's Garagemahal) that shows the ballast resistor in that wiring harness. But, if your truck had a TFI ignition initially there is a possibility that it doesn't have the resistor - and I don't have a schematic for TFI.
Everything I've ever read, including lots of stuff on here, says the HEI needs a full 12v to operate correctly. Just do a bit of Googling about that and I think you'll come to the same conclusion. And, do a bit of searching on here. Lots of people have had similar problems to yours with poor power to the HEI.
Everything I've ever read, including lots of stuff on here, says the HEI needs a full 12v to operate correctly. Just do a bit of Googling about that and I think you'll come to the same conclusion. And, do a bit of searching on here. Lots of people have had similar problems to yours with poor power to the HEI.
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Check for spark. I doubt you have any, but if you do it is probably yellow or red and not blue or white as it should be. If you burned out the ballast resistor in the harness you won't have power to the coil, regardless of what you do for the HEI.
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I tested for spark and didn't get anything, long story short the rotor wasn't spinning, pulled the distributor and there was no gear on the shaft, I pulled the gear out, didn't look like it did any damage, so I used some parts off another distributor to fix it and that's when I realised the shaft doesn't turn inside the housing. What's with that?
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Sorry for seeming to be ...... short with you, but don't you think we needed to know that the distributor doesn't turn? No engine is going to run if the dizzy doesn't turn.
Probably the reason the gear was off was that the distributor seized up and broke the roll pin that holds the gear on. So, what's with that is that your HEI dizzy is toast. .
Probably the reason the gear was off was that the distributor seized up and broke the roll pin that holds the gear on. So, what's with that is that your HEI dizzy is toast. .
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I just figured out that it was stuck like an hour ago, but I got a big hammer and vise, it's not stuck anymore, stuck it back in the truck and the batt was dead, that's in the charger right now, I'll probably try it later to day.
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Just because you got it unstuck doesn't mean it is fixed. The bearings and/or shaft are likely to be hurt from overheating and galling. Personally, I would not run that dizzy as you are asking for a bigger problem. Like, if the roll pin doesn't shear and yet the bearings start shedding "stuff" it'll go down in your engine. Is that what you want? That dizzy's bearings are probably toast and I'd pull it apart to see before I ran it.
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